Gah, forgot the interesting one about Windows 8 RC being the basis for the operating system.

Either way, if a lot of the above are true, it'll be interesting to see how much they can surprise us with the reveal, especially since they're supposedly holding off on the games infodump for E3.

I can't wait - I love console launches & reveals.

@selfconfessedcynic:I'm the same, I loved watching all this stuff happen wayyy wayyy back in the gamespot on the spot days, super excited to see what they show at this event and E3.

I honestly think the kinect 2.0 in the box is absolute madness simply due to the cost of it.

@benny: I think kinect is a blight upon the face of the earth, but I also think it's core to MS's strategy going forward. Combined with rumours about improvements to the camera part meaning they could take out the motorization coupled with how cheap optical sensors are thanks to smart phones, I can see it happening.

Not that I want it to.

But yes, the 360/PS3 launches were AWESOME, especially with live feeds from the old gamespot crew with dudes talking to people in line etc - and the amazing E3 trailer reveals, etc.

This year will be a fun one.

@selfconfessedcynic: I remember Rich even did a top 3 'best' E3 trailers on the spot and the winner was the Wii music dude on drums if I recall correctly, man I hope for a similar level of stupidness this time round, you just know there will be some horrific proof of concept trailer stuff.

Edit: we can only pray there will be a next generation 'the colony.'

Edit 2: HOLY FUCK, this video is hard to watch now.

I really don't think it will have always online, despite all the speculation. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that would be the first device in history to require a constant internet connection in order to function at all. No way is Microsoft going to be the first to do it; they're not suicidal.

Oh jezus.

Well, I HAVE to post this now. Let's hope the event can match up to its predecessor.

Also, I remember the days when I really liked apple ads (opening of video above).

Well, it wouldn't be the first device but it would be the first console for sure.

As a person who just had a week of no internet (my phone line went down then I had to wait for my provider to reconnect my net), I too hope for no online requirement. But then, I also think that there's no smoke without fire in this case, so I do believe they at least entertained the idea at some point during the process - hopefully they have changed their minds on that.

All of them, except maybe backwards compatibility.